"The Patrons of the Monstrous Arts project will use a fantasy roleplaying “monster manual” as a test case for patronage funding of the publisher’s art budget: Dedicated fans make an early commitment to the work, specifically by funding the art budget to increase the number and quality of illustrations the work will contain. The patrons benefit from a final work that has more original, high-quality illustrations than a typical small publisher can afford; the publisher benefits from a better-looking final product; and last but certainly not least, the illustrator benefits from a more reasonable rate for his work."

[link]

Promotion:

Self promotion is partly about proactively finding work, but it's also about being active in the community, and about the facade you present online. I've seen someone I know struggle painfully with both work and friendships, and eventually I had to remove him from my Facebook list, because every one of his posts was negative in some way. If I was a prospective client, I would never have considered him because of the immensely negative vibe coming off all his online presences. You may be going through hell, but only your close friends care - make sure you always have a professional, friendly and reliable attitude online and in personal dealings with clients. I can't stress this enough. Be nice, and keep busy. You will reap the rewards somewhere along the line.

Always actively look for new clients, online, in portfolios of fellow artists, in magazines and book stores, etc. Keep a list of of potential clients, who you've contacted and the result. Many emails will get ignored; some will be rejections. Other clients will file you away for future use, and might even bother to tell you. Some will give you work! Keep trying, but don't chase people. If they don't reply, you'll probably just annoy them. It seems common to send out your latest portfolio quarterly (maybe less if you don't have enough updates due to Non-Disclosure Agreements or something). When I started last year, I figured it would take about two years to establish myself, and I've had that confirmed from other professionals.

I've felt pretty isolated working like this, which I think a lot freelances go through. Fortunately, like many people, I've gotten a lot from podcasts like Ninja Mountain ([link]), commenting on other artist's blogs, having discussions on Twitter, and so on. You've got to do your best to get your peers to recognise you, and make sure you keep contact with them. Another necessary site is ArtOrder ([link]) - no fantasy freelancer should do without the Ninjas or AO. Period. I can't thank these people enough. In some ways I owe you my sanity.

It may be because I've just started out, but I feel like we're a bit screwed in the UK. The USA has so many large comic and gaming conventions, but I think fantasy artists struggle to have a good community here. Can anyone tell me if I'm wrong (I hope so)? Anyway, I've also got to recommend sharing as much as possible - crits, tips, techniques, walkthroughs, advice, etc. I once asked someone how they did something, and their attitude was they wouldn't tell me, since they'd worked it out for themselves. I lost a bit of respect for them that day. We get so much help from the internet, it would be pretty lame not to give something back. You won't lose out to the competition, and people will respect you. Never be afraid to ask other artists for advice (within reason), and be free with your knowledge.

Plans:

When I was a kid I used to collect all those old Paper Tiger books on people like Boris, and thought when you bruoght out a book, you'd "arrived". It's not like that anymore, but it's still a big goal of mine that I'm working toward behind the scenes. In 2009 I was also trying to get work on Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering. I'm not sure it's going to happen, with my art heading in the direction it is, but I'll still try - Wizards is a great company to do work for. Catalyst Game Labs was the first company to request my photographic art in a Shadowrun RPG supplement, due next year, and there'll be more (I can't say too much about it yet) - so this will be be a big year in defining my identity as a professional artist. And of course, I'll be always be working towards book covers over interior art. Last year I was also introduced to the idea of licensing, when Anne Stokes appeared in the Ninja Mountain Podcast. Producing my own art and reaching a popularity or exposure point where I can license that art to companies is intensely appealing, so that's another long term goal.

Wrap it Up!

So that's that - a look back at 2009 became an essay! Sorry, I don't get out much. It seems most people had a bad year, so here's to 2010 - cheers, and good luck.

2009 in retrospective (Part 2)

Online Presence Advice:

Have a killer portfolio. No, really. Your website, and indeed most of your online presence, is the the first and most important impression prospective clients will get of both you professionally, and your work. My website currently has too much work on it. It's very easy to be sentimental about older work, but you have to constantly trim your portfolio. An art director will probably never look at about more than ten images if you've managed to hold their interest, and it won't even take that many to chase them away. I've also got a lot of personal photography on it, and a lot of links. None of that will get me work, and just causes clutter, so it's all about to go out the window in my upcoming website redesign. I haven't decided what to do with older work or stuff which doesn't fit on my website - Christopher Burdett ([link]) uses his blog to showcase work which doesn't fit his main portfolio site - a good idea, and one I might copy. You could also potentially use a DeviantArt account in the same way.

Streamline your website. Use the simplest navigation possible (it should never take more than two to three clicks to get to your art), and avoid flash. ADs also like to save your images to send around or for their files, so make sure all your art has at least your website on it, and don't use scripts or gallery types which prevent it being saved (that's why I avoid lightbox, which everyone uses, but in Firefox it seems to prevent image saving). Contact details are a must, obviously. ADs also look for regular updates to show them you're working, so at least update your blog once a week - I'm bad at this, and am going to have to make more effort this year.

I've now integrated my online presences better. My blog is also the main news page on my site. Small updates are done via Twitter, which updates my Facebook and appears on my blog sidebar. Large updates which might include images are done in blogger, which updates on my site and Facebook. All this minimises repetitive updating. If only DeviantArt could be updated remotely like this.

Prospective clients DO see your work, even you're not promoting yourself (which you should be!!!), as long as it's all over the place, so keep all your sites updated, and submit to as many artbooks as possible - Exposé is free and easy to enter, so you have no excuses; Spectrum is the big one if you can get in.

Business:

Setting up as self-employed is horrible, make no mistake. I think since you have no choice in this and paying tax, the government is under no obligation to help you. It took many phone calls, redirects and even wrong information from tax employees before I managed to register. Then I didn't get important paperwork I needed to register for online tax payment, which I had to chase. Now I have to pay tax, and simple information I need isn't online, complicating things. Might be time to get an accountant...

Be polite. Thank people. Use correct grammar and punctuation - there's no excuse these days when computers will check your work for you. I don't think there are ANY serious clients who'd hire people who constantly use abbreviations, leetspeak, and don't use capital letters or full stops. It's childish. Don't do it.

To be continued...

In an effort to be communicative and involved in the community this year, I've written a 3 part blog entry on my first year as a freelance illustrator, please check out part 1 on my site - [link] - hope some of the advice will be useful...

Just working towards updating and bringing together all my online presences and identities. Unfortunately you have to update your journal to update it's skin, so apologies for the lame update.